Red Bull 1-2 caps unbroken first-half run in Belgium
Monday, 31 July 2023
Red Bull Racing kept a clean sheet heading into the mid-season break, taking a 12th Grand Prix win from as many starts as Max Verstappen won for the eighth time in a row at Spa.
Max Verstappen won the Belgian Grand Prix for the third year in succession, the Dutchman's 10th win of the year – and eighth victory in a row – ensuring Red Bull Racing kept a perfect record for 2023 into the mid-season break.
One day after winning the 11-lap Sprint race, Verstappen started from sixth after a pre-race gearbox penalty and took 17 laps to catch and pass teammate and race-leader Sergio Perez, Verstappen then romping clear to win by 22 seconds, extending his series lead to 125 points.
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Perez took his best result since Miami in round five to secure Red Bull's fifth 1-2 finish this season, and extended his margin over Fernando Alonso for second in the drivers' standings to 40 points; in its 19-year history, Red Bull has never had its drivers finish first and second in the championship at the end of a season.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc – who inherited pole after Verstappen's grid drop – finished third, but 32 seconds behind the race-winner.
Of the 15 races (12 Grands Prix, three Sprints) so far this season, Verstappen has now won 12 times, Perez securing the other three victories.
Aussie watch
A weekend of pace and promise for Oscar Piastri was undone in one corner of Sunday's Grand Prix, the McLaren driver collected by Ferrari's Carlos Sainz at La Source (Turn 1) on the opening lap and retiring with damaged front suspension before he could get back to the pits for repairs.
It was a desperately unlucky end to a breakthrough weekend for the Australian, which hit its highest points on Saturday when Piastri missed pole in the Sprint Shootout by just 0.011secs to Verstappen, and finished second to the world champion in the Sprint to at least take home seven points for a weekend that ended in frustration.
Daniel Ricciardo's second race weekend back in the sport with Scuderia AlphaTauri was defined by a track limits infringement in Friday's qualifying for the Grand Prix, running off track at Radillon and having a lap time that would have placed him 10th on the grid deleted after the session.
From 19th, Ricciardo could only advance to 16th at the chequered flag, while he was a more competitive 10th from 11th on the grid in Saturday's Sprint.
Unsung hero
One point doesn't sound like much, but for AlphaTauri, Yuki Tsunoda's sole point for his third 10th-place finish this season was a welcome relief for a team that hadn't scored since Azerbaijan in round four, and had replaced the struggling Nyck De Vries with Ricciardo ahead of the previous race in Hungary.
Out-qualified and out-raced by Ricciardo in Budapest, Tsunoda snapped his points skid in Spa by qualifying 11th and making a magical start that had him running as high as seventh in the first three laps, eventually finishing less than a second behind Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) for ninth place.
Tsunoda's weekend was the opposite of Ricciardo's, the Japanese driver spinning in the Saturday Sprint and finishing just 18th, but he came good on race day to see his team edge closer to Alfa Romeo for ninth in the constructors' standings.
Number to know
10: Piastri leading for four laps of Saturday's Sprint is the first time a rookie has led a lap in F1 for over 10 years; the previous time was when Mexican driver Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) led on laps 11-12 at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.
To have arrived at the summer break unbeaten is unimaginable. Sprint races, Grands Prix … it's been the most amazing start to the season for us … the confidence and commitment behind the scenes, that's what's going into these results.
Belgian Grand Prix: top 10
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 1hr 22mins 30.450secs
2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) +22.305secs
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +32.259secs
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +49.671secs
5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +56.184secs
6. George Russell (Mercedes) +63.101secs
7. Lando Norris (McLaren) +73.719secs
8. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) +74.719secs
9. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +79.340secs
10. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) +80.221secs
Standings (top 5)
Drivers' championship
1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 314 points
2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) 189 points
3. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) 149 points
4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 148 points
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 99 points
Constructors' championship
1. Red Bull Racing (503 points)
2. Mercedes (247 points)
3. Aston Martin (196 points)
4. Ferrari (191 points)
5. McLaren (103 points)
Next race
Round 13: Zandvoort, Netherlands (August 25-27)
